All Is Well: T - 46 hours

The time for us to actually leave Kansas and travel to the Czech Republic seems really close now. Today, Monday, we are attending to details. We have finished packing three of our four large suitcases. We have about two pounds of weight to put in the fourth one. Phyllis has her carry-on stuff all ready to go, John is still procrastinating on that last minute detail.

Sunday we had a most enjoyable day. At Westside Family Church we said goodbyes and heard a great teaching that hit home to us. Several points were made, but the one that stuck with John (author of this wordy message) was that we should not get irritated/upset/mad at people who seem to misbehave, but get mad at the spiritual forces of darkness who try so desperately to keep people (like me) in bondage to bad traits. The solution is not to try and change the person, but to cry out to the Lord to fight against the spiritual forces that subjugate us to actions that we probably don’t even want to do ourselves, but against which we seem so powerless. In other words, we should not use earthly weapons to fight spiritual battles. Spiritual weapons are the only ones that will work.

Anyway, that teaching lifted our spirits. After church, we went on a nice walk for about an hour on the Mill Creek Trail. After a light lunch at home, we took our two heaviest suitcases to the airport and went to the United check-in window and asked them to weigh the two suitcases. We did this because John is paranoid about being overweight – that is the suitcases being overweight – and Phyllis suggested that we do this to calm him. We got good news from United. Our heaviest suitcase weighed in at 49.5 lbs – full half pound under the limit and the other suitcase was three pounds under the fifty pound limit.

After getting that good news and stopping to get Phyllis a latte, we stopped by John’s cousin Leo’s house and chatted with Grace and Leo for about three hours. We always spend time reminiscing some and talking about current events, sports and family with them. As an added bonus, Grace had just made an apple pie which we were delighted to sample.

We drove home in time to drop off the two suitcases, chat with Jared and Michelle very briefly and then head to Paneras for a supper with Brentton and Sharon. It always good to be with them and receive their wisdom and encouragement.

This morning, as mentioned above, we did some packing. Then Phyllis was off to yoga and John continued packing and miscellaneous matters. Then it was off to the bank for John to wire the September rent on our apartment to our landlord’s Czech bank account. While there, the wonderful lady who was helping me said that she could set this up as a recurring transaction. However, nothing seems completely simple at B of A. We spent about an hour trying to get the right forms and then fill them out correctly. When it looked like we were nearly done, she discovered that it can be set up to automatically transfer a set dollar amount but not set number of Czech Crowns. Hence, the outcome was not entirely successful, but not all bad as now I can call the bank and tells them each month to wire 20,500 Czech crowns to the landlord rather than someone actually needing to make a trip to the bank as we were once told.
Then came the final, or maybe it was the penultimate, call to the Czech Consulate in Chicago. The refrain rings true again as I am told that our visas are still pending. My brain races to try and come up with a plan on what to do if I should call tomorrow and the visas are approved. However, there is no simple way to get the visas and make our flight on Wednesday – so I will just quit thinking about it but probably call tomorrow anyway.

Phyllis’ nap is now over, so I will post what I have written and pack my carry-on stuff. We are to meet with Phyllis’ brother DeVon and his wife Peg this evening and then have a farewell dinner for immediate family Tuesday night at daughter Gretchen’s home.